You Come First
by aworldalone
Summary: {Vampire Academy re-written} "'Liss, wake up,' I tried to keep my voice steady. 'What's wrong' her eyes widened in fear when she saw the rising sun. I would never wake her up when the sun was out- there was no reason. We traveled at night. 'They're here. Grab your stuff, we need to get out of here.'"


I could tell it was chilly outside even before I opened the door from the ice-cold metallic door knob, but nothing prepared me for the blast of freezing air the swept upon me when I stepped outside. Inside, Lissa was fast asleep in the double bed we'd shared for the past 1 week, 3 days, and 7 hours. The sun had just started to rise from behind the cityscape, telling me I should probably get to bed along with Lissa if we wanted to be on the same sleep schedule.

Instead, I took out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one and sticking it in my mouth. I wasn't really fond of cigarettes and I definitely wasn't addicted, but they did give me something to do when I needed to think. Once it was lit, I took out the map stashed in my other pocket and started tracing the old pen marks tracking where we would live once these two weeks were up.

Two weeks was my thing. I was lenient about a lot of things we did. Clubs, alcohol, even a few boys from time to time were O.K. but we never stayed in the same place for more than two weeks, especially after what happened in Denver, only a month ago.

I was about the circle the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming when I heard the faint rustle of a bush and an unmistakable black figure. Alarms went off in my head, _shit shit shi_t, I dropped the remains of my cigarette on the wooden porch and lightly stomped it out with the heel of my boot before turning around and going straight inside the cabin.

"Liss, wake up," I tried to keep my voice calm,

"What's wrong?" her eyes widened in fear when she saw the rising sun. I would never wake her up when the sun was out- there was no reason. We traveled at night.

"They're here. Grab your stuff. There's a back window that we can fit through."

She nodded, still shaken, but efficiently moving. Them finding us weren't anything new but it still was unfamiliar and not a good setting that put us both on edge.

Once we were outside the cabin, we ran.

It was our plan. I fought while she ran, then we met up on a local coffee shop, hot wired a car and got the hell out of there. There were no flaws in it, and it worked all the 16 times we've been found. Except for Denver. That was a mishap.

Once we made it through the little stretch of woods, we hit a run-down city town- aka Detroit. The buildings paint were fading and peeled off, half of the letters from shop signs were missing and it gave me an eerie feeling altogether.

We were about to go inside a small bookshop on the corner of the street when a voice from behind made us stop in our tracks.

"Rosamarie Hathaway, Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, if you would please drop any weapons you may be carrying and walk slowly toward us."

That voice. The voice from Denver. Denver had been a special case. Usually, we were able to get away from the guardians with ease, not that time though. I suspect it had something to do with the new guardian in charge of our capture. I didn't know his name, just that he had been this close to getting us both. I still don't know how we managed to get away with that one.

I gave Lissa a look and she knew exactly what I was saying. _Run._

As soon as her foot touched the ground in a hurry, I lunged at the man nearest to her. There were three men in total, but there was definitely back-up hiding along this town somewhere. As soon as I knocked the man, down I stood right back in my offense position, calculating on what to do about them. There was no way I could take down all three, especially the head guardian- the tallest one with the brown hair that reached his chin. I would have to hide.

I turned around to run up an alleyway and was almost there when I heard familiar shriek. I stopped in place and looked straight up at the stacked building the see the famous Lissa Dragomir's legs dangling from the window. The sight would have made me laugh if we weren't be tracked down right now. Soon, she made through the window and look down to see me and smiled.

"Got rid of them already?" she asked breathless from her climb.

_I wish._

Speaking of them, I could see them running towards me from here. I wanted to curse and scream about how stupid I was, leading them right to Lissa. Instead, I acted fast and climbed that creaky stairs Lissa used to get to the window.

There were two sets of yellow metal stairs attached to the outside of the building leading up to the window. After I finished climbing the first set, the man I had knocked down earlier was already on the second step. With three quick and strong kicks, I managed to knock the loose bolt that connected the top of the first set of stairs the building off, making the entire staircase come collapsing down.

The man who was climbing the stairs when I did that groaned in pain, and judging by the unnatural angle of his leg, he had definitely twisted it from the fall.

"You damned girl!" he yelled at me when I gave him a small smirk.

"Don't antagonize her, Paul," the leader said with a strong, deep voice.

"We already tried the nice approach, Dimitri! See how well that worked last time?" The man with the twisted leg- Paul- yelled in fury.

While the third man joined in their debate I heard creaking from the inside of the building. Probably Lissa going down the inside stairs on her way out the door. So far, the men had not yet managed to figure out Lissa was in this building. I hoped to keep it that way. My plan was simple, I'd get in through the window, meet up with Lissa inside and make our way out.

I started up the third staircase and was about the pull myself up the window using the railing of the stairs when - _shit._

The rusty staircase bolts flew off and down went the second stairs along with my support. Fortunately, I still had a strong grip on the window sill.

I forced myself to take a few pained breaths, trying to distract myself from my situation and the pressure that came along with it. I had to get up through this damned window and get to Lissa.

"Rosemarie, let go, I'll catch you," the leader- Dimitri shouted up towards me.

"Like hell," I hissed, "My name is Rose, by the way."

I used all the strength I could muster to get my elbow to rest on the sill. Almost there.

"Shoot her in the leg, she'll let go to that window in pain." Paul said. I couldn't see him but I knew he had a smile on his face. Pure terror ran through me. Would they really shoot me? A shot like that wouldn't kill but it would injure me seriously.

"Rose, let go." Dimitri said again, as if he hadn't heard Paul.

I wanted so badly to call out for Lissa and have her hoist me up, but I couldn't let her be found. I managed to get my second elbow to rest of the windowsill.

"How do I know you'd catch me," I said, hoping for more time to go through my options on how to get inside the window without them shooting. "A fall like that wouldn't kill me. You'd be able to bring me back alive without having to catch me," They only wanted me alive, a twisted ankle or minor concussion wouldn't matter.

"You must have gravely mistaken the height. If you fall, your spine would hit the concrete and you would die," he said with ease.

With him saying that, I made the mistake of turning my head to look down. Oh, hell. It was very high. I quickly switched my attention to getting through the window, but toes were curled in terror and my hands wouldn't stop shaking. No, stop. I have to do this. Each breath I took hurt my chest.

I reached out to grab the latch to pull me in but as soon as I used my full weight it broke right off.

I didn't even have time to scream before I was being hurled the concrete street by gravity. My breath left my lungs. My heart stopped.

Except I didn't hit the floor.

I gave a small shriek of surprise when I realized I was instead, in Dimitri's arms. I rolled out of them and scooted away from him. My legs wouldn't work as they were still shaking from the fall.

"Where's the Dragomir kid?" The third, unnamed man asked in a hurry.

I almost snorted. I'd rather die than tell them anything of Lissa's whereabouts.

When my heart returned to a somewhat normal pace, I picked myself back up, embarrassed I was sitting on the floor totally defenseless. I was ready to go on offense again and meet up with Lissa when a voice stopped me.

"Found her," sure enough there was Paul, with a cruel smile on his face and a slight limp, holding Lissa's arms in both his hands.

Red, hot rage filled me as I steadily weaved my way past the two guardians and tackled Paul. Careful to not hurt Lissa in the process, I kicked him right in the ankle where the stair crushed it, wiping the smirk right off his face and earning a sharp howl from him.

Rough hands pulled me off him and more pulled at Lissa, "Don't touch her! Don't lay a finger her!" I yelled to no one in particular, kicking my legs and squirming my way out of everyone's' grab. I saw more guardians join our "fight" out of the corner of my eye. I was frantic. It was 2 teenage girls (mind you one of them was a legend fighter) against what? 7? 8? trained guardians. I screamed and kicked some more, "Let go! Let go!" I couldn't see anything, all I felt was the terror of what would happen if Lissa and I were caught and dragged back to the academy. It was what motivated me to throw out random punches, some catching others in the jaw, and the rest just randomly being thrashed in the air. _No. No. No!_

A sharp elbow hit my head and I was knocked out cold.

* * *

My head was throbbing when I finally woke.

I blinked my eyes a few times to adjust the light and then a few more times to see where I was. On an airplane with Lissa sitting two seats ahead of me looking out the window, three men blocking all two of the exits, one pacing up and down the aisle and Dimitri staring right at me.

"Thank goodness. I thought I knocked you out for good for a second there." He said trading in the purple icepack that rested on my forehead for another.

"Where are we going," I asked, sitting up straighter in my seat even though I almost winced at the rush of lightheadedness that came with it.

"Say your name, your birthday, and your favorite color, please," He said turning on a penlight and reaching out for my face to look at my pupils.

I smacked his arm away, "I don't have a concussion,"

"Then you should be able to answer those easily," he said patiently.

"Rosemarie Hathaway, June 6th and I like blue," I seethed.

"Blue like that bruise is turning?" Paul asked coming up behind Dimitri with a smirk on his face. "A year and seven months I've been on your case and I've finally got you,"

"I'm so happy for you," I dripped with sarcasm. "When will we be arriving at the glorious school of ours?"

Dimitri pushed up his duster sleeve to check his watch, "Right now,"


End file.
